While the apartments being described may not be considered affordable by many of the area's present long term residents, those that remain in the area until 2025 might perceive them as affordable THEN.

The owner/developer has put in an application for 40 Crown (same address as 46 Crown) to be able to build one big building, as opposed to four, 7 story ones. In exchange, the building would have to include below market units:

"His company’s site at 40 Crown Street, which property records show Hager bought in 2014 for $14.5 million, allows for a seven-story, 70-foot-tall residential building as-of-right. Hager is proposing to rezone the property so that he could build a 16-story, 157-foot-tall mixed-building with about 15,000 square feet of retail.

The 400,000-square-foot building, which would front along the entire block of Franklin Avenue between Crown and Montgomery streets, is set to include 390 units. Of those apartments, 105 would have below-market rents.

If Hager signed a supermarket to the retail space, he could add enough bonus square footage to allow for 16 additional units."

The new zoning would pave the way for two 16-story, 175-foot-tall buildings at 40 Crown Street and 931 Carroll Street. If the developer decided to work with the current zoning, plans filed in 2014 could move forward. Back then, the firm hoped to erect four seven-story buildings with 209 apartments, maxing out the relatively low height limits and density allowed in southern Crown Heights. Both sites sit between Franklin and Washington avenues, next to the Franklin Avenue shuttle tracks.

The Crown Street building would span 427,634 square feet and hold 390 apartments, 150 of which would rent for below-market rates. It would also include 16,300 square feet of retail and 114 parking spots. The development site stretches through from Crown to Montgomery streets and fronts the entire block along the western side of Franklin Avenue.

On Carroll Street, the second 16-story tower would have 128 apartments, 34 of which would rent for below-market rates. The 134,300-square-foot building would also include a 37-car garage.

The finished development would host 518 apartments, 152 of which would rent through the city’s affordable housing lottery. Cornell also plans to take advantage of Option 1 of the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program, meaning 25 percent of the units will rent to families making an average of 60 percent of the Area Median Income, or $48,960 for a family of three. Ten percent of those units will go to families making up to 40 percent of the Area Median Income, or $32,640 for a family of three

I have to assume the soil testing folks park there when they are not working other jobs. The delay could be due to a myriad of things: financing, bad soil, contracting delays, DOB and zoning fights, etc.

I saw a few people in yellow vests on different days counting pedestrians (they told me after I inquired) who said they were from the "spice factory." Couldn't get more info out of them seemed like they maybe didn't know anything else. They were on President and Franklin. Is this sort of "traffic study" typical?

I saw a few people in yellow vests on different days counting pedestrians (they told me after I inquired) who said they were from the "spice factory." Couldn't get more info out of them seemed like they maybe didn't know anything else. They were on President and Franklin. Is this sort of "traffic study" typical?

I also saw people on the corner of Sullivan and Franklin, and Franklin and Empire within the past week.